North America

Asia Pacific

Europe

Middle East

Richmond

Located in one of America’s most historic cities, Vinson & Elkins’ Richmond office is home to a team of lawyers who focus on strategic transactions involving real estate investment trusts (REITs) and other specialty finance companies. Collaborating with lawyers from our Corporate, Banking & Finance, Real Estate, Tax and Executive Compensation & Employee Benefits practices, we provide coordinated counsel on all aspects of a REIT’s formation, operation, and investment strategy.

Palo Alto

Clean energy, including renewable and alternative energy sources such as sunlight, wind, biofuels, hydro, and geothermal, has emerged as part of the solution for fueling the world’s energy needs and for driving opportunities for innovative companies. Silicon Valley led the technology revolution in the 20th Century, and Palo Alto is again a hub, but this time for the clean energy revolution of the new century.

Washington

The lawyers in the Washington, DC, office of Vinson & Elkins provide legal services to domestic and international clients in numerous industries, particularly those with litigation and regulatory matters involving the federal government.

San Francisco

Vinson & Elkins’ San Francisco office focuses on bet-the-company litigation disputes and investigations in the areas of government investigations, antitrust, securities, complex commercial litigation, environmental, complex product liability, class actions, and intellectual property litigation. Our San Francisco office is one of the most dynamic and growing in the Bay Area, and our lawyers represent clients based in Northern California, particularly in the tech space.

New York

Vinson & Elkins' New York office provides high-quality legal services to an array of blue-chip clients, including leading private equity firms, investment banks, and other financial institutions, as well as public and privately held companies in such areas as energy, infrastructure, media and entertainment, and pharmaceuticals. Our lawyers in New York focus on capital markets and securities, private equity, mergers and acquisitions, commercial litigation, securities litigation, intellectual property, finance, tax, and restructurings. The office is also home to key members of our leading Shareholder Activism practice.

Houston

Houston is considered the energy capital of the world and is second only to New York in the number of Fortune 500 company headquarters. Born in the midst of the Texas oil boom a century ago, Vinson & Elkins is the largest law firm in Houston and one of the oldest. While known for its energy practice, V&E's Houston office is home to nearly 300 lawyers who handle some of the most high-profile transactions, investments, projects and disputes across the globe.

Dallas

Vinson & Elkins’ Dallas office has grown to become one of the largest law offices in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, with more than 120 lawyers providing legal services to a broad spectrum of national and international clients. The Dallas office is home to many of the firm’s key practice groups and offers a full range of client services in transactional, litigation, and regulatory matters.

Austin

Since opening in Austin in 1979, Vinson & Elkins' lawyers have remained well connected to the city’s many flourishing and diverse industries. Key practices in Austin include intellectual property and life sciences, venture capital, private equity, mergers and acquisitions, litigation, environmental, appellate, and regulatory.

Tokyo

Vinson & Elkins has been resident in Tokyo for more than a decade. Our Tokyo practice focuses on corporate and commercial law, most frequently advising on energy and infrastructure transactions, mergers and acquisitions, as well as project development matters.

Beijing

Vinson & Elkins' Beijing office has been open since 1997, and was one of the first international law firms resident in PRC. The office is staffed with U.S., English, and Australian lawyers, who provide tailored services for Chinese companies investing abroad, as well as international clients on their business in China.

Moscow

Vinson & Elkins has advised clients on their investments and business dealings in the Russia/CIS region since the early 1970s. We established our Moscow office in 1991, and were one of the first international law firms to do so. Using Moscow as a base for our wide Russia CIS practice, we have represented numerous Russian, U.S., European, and Asian companies on a multitude of energy, natural resources, infrastructure, and other projects throughout the region.

London

Vinson & Elkins’ London office opened in 1971, making our office one of the oldest London offices of any U.S. law firm. Our London lawyers handle disputes (including international arbitration and High Court litigation), energy transactions and projects, finance, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, and tax.

Riyadh

Vinson & Elkins has represented clients in Saudi Arabia for more than 20 years; since 2011 we have worked in association with the Law Office of Looaye M. Al-Akkas which is staffed by native, Arabic speaking lawyers, all of whom are internationally qualified. This collaboration allows for effective, insightful service to clients both in and outside Saudi Arabia.

Dubai

The Dubai office opened in 2003 and is located in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). It is the coordinating office for the firm’s work in the region and is predominantly staffed by native, Arabic speaking lawyers, all of whom are internationally qualified, enabling us to provide proficient advice both to regional and international clients.

Highly regarded antitrust lawyers Hill Wellford and Darren Tucker have joined Vinson & Elkins as partners, bringing to the firm a combined four decades of government and private practice experience, with a focus on the technology, media, telecom, standard-setting, energy and pharmaceutical sectors.

Browse Insights

Vinson & Elkins is a great place to start or grow your career and we invite you to learn more about our firm, our practices, and our people. With our unique culture that extends across all of our offices, we enjoy working in an environment where we value diverse perspectives, have fun, and deliver outstanding client service.

Fred I. Williams
Partner, Intellectual Property

Fred is a nationally recognized trial lawyer whose practice focuses on complex litigation and counseling, with emphasis on intellectual property, antitrust, class action and white-collar disputes. For more than 20 years, the majority of his work has been devoted to representing industry-leading companies in cases involving patent infringement, trade secret, competition, trade regulation, and consumer protection claims.

Fred prepares and
tries cases to judges and juries across the country, including representing technology companies, financial
institutions, manufacturers, importers, and retailers nationwide. He has
represented clients in diverse proceedings in 28 different states and the
District of Columbia. He also maintains an active pro bono practice focused on
civil rights and consumer-protection litigation.

(E.D. Tex.); (N.D.
Cal.) — Defending a major wireless manufacturer and its largest wireless
carrier in six cases relating to 4G LTE wireless technologies; won summary
judgment of noninfringement in all cases

(Fed. Cir.); (E.D.
Tex.); (N.D. Cal.) — Defended a leading wireless manufacturer against
infringement claims based on data transfer and voice calls on Wi-Fi networks;
after transfer from Texas to California, the case was won on summary judgment
of non-infringement, affirmed on appeal

(E.D. Tex.) — Obtained a jury verdict of noninfringement for a leading social gaming company in a case involving online gaming systems and the provision of data to game participants during the gaming experience

(D. Del.) — Defended a
Fortune 50 financial institution against infringement claims related to
front-end network gateways and search criteria for efficient provision of
financial quotes; the court granted our client’s motion to dismiss based on
lack of patentability of the alleged invention

(ITC) — Lead counsel to a wireless handset manufacturer in investigation regarding media player technology; obtained summary determination of invalidity based on lack of patentability; affirmed on appeal

(ITC) — Lead counsel
for the world’s leading PC manufacturer in investigations regarding audio,
video, and computer hardware and software technologies

Patent Litigation

(D.
Del.); (PTAB) — Defended the world’s leading PC provider against
infringement claims relating to communicating voice and data over a cellular
network; succeeded in instituting inter
partes review of all asserted claims; after we obtained a favorable
claim construction, the plaintiffs stipulated to non-infringement; in exchange
for withdrawing the instituted petitions for
inter partes review, plaintiffs agreed to waive their appeal
rights, broadly licensed the patents at no cost to our client, and dismissed
all claims with prejudice

(E.D. Tex.); (C.D. Cal); (E.D.N.C.) — Defending the world’s leading personal computer company in multiple cases relating to the invention of the touchscreen computer; won summary judgment of noninfringement in the lead case

(E.D. Tex.) — Defending an industry-leading group of six gaming companies against claims relating to electronic trading card technology

(W.D. Tex.) — Defending an international manufacturer of medical devices against infringement claims relating to angioplasty catheters; successfully defended motion for preliminary injunction, after which the case was resolved by acquisition of the plaintiff

(E.D. Tex.) — Representing a leading networking equipment company as plaintiff in multibillion-dollar litigation and arbitration involving claims of monopolization, conspiracy in restraint of trade, trade secret misappropriation and unfair competition

(E.D. Pa.); (D. Md.); (D.D.C.) — Defending one of the world’s largest telecommunications companies in national mass tort and consumer class actions

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